Battlestations: Midway (Xbox 360, 2007)

Gameplay:

Alot of different controls to take in at once and it's easy to feel overwhelmed if you skip the training missions. As your taking command of ships, planes, subs (each with their own control scheme mind you) and being in charge of the strategy you wish to take is indeed alot. After the lengthy tutorial though you should be doing fine with the controls.

After learning all that the game is really fun to play, as it's a strategy game you'll need to think on your toes during missions or online. Do you send out a squadron of torpedo planes to attack enemy ships or instead launch fighter planes to defend your ships and airfields? Do you risk sending your submarine to hull crush depth to avoid enemy radar and hope to sneak up and destroy an enemy destroyer or keep it with your fleet? Many decisions are thrown your way and you'll need to respond carefully if your to get that Mission Accomplished screen after each level.

Story:

As the title points out the game's setting is Midway where plenty of sea battles took place during WWII. The single-player has you play Henry Walker, a Navy man who advances from being in charge of a PT boat to eventually a whole fleet of ships. Though some parts of the game have you also play as Henry's friend Donald who's a pilot. The story isn't anything special, it never really helped immerse me more or had me all that interested. I never felt connected to the characters or their problems either. Probably the weakest aspect of this game.

Graphics:

The graphics definitely have that next-gen feel to them. The ships, planes, and subs are all accurately portrayed to their real life counterparts. When flying a plane you can really notice how real the sky looks (flying through those puffy white clouds comes to mind). Islands and the buildings that reside on them look great too. My only complaint would have to be the water itself, it's very plain and not at all that impressive to look at.

Play Time/Replayability:

The single-player by itself on Normal could range from anywhere between 8-12 hours depending on your skill. After completing the campaign there are 3 challenge campaigns for the ships, planes, and subs. They have no story, but they are tough and you get achievements for completing them. Playing through all challenge campaigns actually took me longer than the story campaign to complete.

If you have Xbox Live then this is where the game truly shines imo, there's a few different gametypes to choose from. One type has you defend your airfield from bombardment, another has you destroying an enemy fleet, some only require specific targets to be destroyed (i.e. airfields, shipyards, aircraft carriers, etc.). The multiplayer supports up to 8 players in a match and teamwork will be needed if your to win. Strategy and thought is required of you to overcome your enemy, positioning your ship the right way could make all the difference in a battle.